No. 16 Harvard Men's Tennis Prevails in Comeback Effort

Rookie Henry Steer earned one of many comeback victories for the Harvard men’s tennis team Wednesday night at the Murr Center, closing off an impressive, 6-1, effort by the Crimson with his win in singles.

A calm settled over the Murr Center tennis courts as freshman Henry Steer prepared for his final serve of the evening.

Steer bounced the ball twice, stopped, and then took three more bounces before delivering a powerful serve. After a short volley, Steer’s opponent ended the game, set, and match by hitting the ball into the net.

This final game, a come-from-behind victory, epitomized the evening for the No. 16 Harvard men’s tennis team (14-1), which at one point in the night found itself down in four out of six singles matches against Boston College (4-8, 0-5 ACC).

But the deficit was not long-lasting. The Crimson quickly came back and defeated its opponent, 6-1, Wednesday night.

After losing his first set, 7-5, Steer dominated the second and third sets, winning 6-3 and 6-2, respectively.

The victory secured a 6-1 win over the crosstown rival Eagles. And although Harvard has not lost a match since Feb. 4, its tenth victory in a row did not come easily.

The Wednesday night matchup began with doubles play. Freshman Alex Steinroeder and senior Jonathan Pearlman set the tone early, dominating their opponents, 8-1.

This was not the case, though, for sophomore Casey MacMaster and senior Alistair Felton as the pair dropped its match, 8-5.

As each team had won one doubles match, the Crimson needed to win the third to secure the doubles point. This burden fell to junior Andy Nguyen and freshman Denis Nguyen.

In the early goings of the match, it appeared that the Harvard players could not handle the pressure. The twosome fell behind, 3-2, and Boston College gained momentum.

Fueled by their teammates’ encouraging cries, Nguyen and Nguyen mounted a rally to take the next game, eventually closing out a defeat of their opponents, 8-6.

The Crimson went into singles play with the early 1-0 lead, but the Eagles nearly erased the deficit.

Pearlman—who played at the No. 1 spot for Harvard—and his opponent traded the lead for much of the first set, tying the games total at three and four apiece.

The battle would continue for two more games until Pearlman lost, 6-4. The senior went on to drop the next set, 6-1.